Needham High boys volleyball team stuns Newton North

Thursday

Apr 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 25, 2013 at 3:42 AM

The Newton North boys volleyball team had not lost a single set all season entering Monday’s contest against Needham High. But that quickly changed thanks to a balanced effort as the Rockets shocked the Tigers, 3-1, to move to 7-2 (6-0 Bay Sate Conference Carey Division). The Tigers took the first set, 25-18, but the Rockets responded by claiming the next three, 25-23, 25-20 and 25-20, on the way to the upset.

Gethin Coolbaugh

The Newton North boys volleyball team had not lost a single set all season entering Monday’s contest against Needham High. But that quickly changed thanks to a balanced effort as the Rockets shocked the Tigers, 3-1, to move to 7-2 (6-0 Bay Sate Conference Carey Division).

The Tigers took the first set, 25-18, but the Rockets responded by claiming the next three, 25-23, 25-20 and 25-20, on the way to the upset.

"Definitely the best victory of the year," said Needham coach Dave Powell. "(We’ve) definitely kind of been searching to make a statement in the state all year. But where we are, we felt like that was kind of a statement we had to make, and we made it."

Sam Tillotson recorded 20 kills in the Needham victory while Andrew Tegeler totaled 12 kills and Trevor Dow had eight kills. Andrew Dow had 47 assists and Ethan Leibowitz and Simon Shulman combined for 31 digs in the Rockets’ victory.

"It was definitely our most balanced effort of the year statistically, in terms of kind of distributing the ball and a variety of hitters putting the ball away," Powell said. "I’ve said it before, this is the most balanced team and the deepest team since I’ve been at Needham. It’s not the most experienced or talented. ... Definitely the deepest team I’ve had."

Powell was concerned about the timing of Monday’s game against a tough opponent in North after 11 days off due to school vacation, but he wasn’t surprised with the end result.

"I was a little concerned because we hadn’t (played in a week), so I was a little concerned about the timing of the match," said Powell. "I don’t know if I was surprised, I knew we could compete with them, but I was definitely happy with the outcome."

Monday’s victory benefitted Needham in several ways, proving that the Rockets can be competitive with anyone and also giving them a potential boost to finish the season strong.

"It definitely gives us a sense of confidence that we can play with anyone in the state," Powell said. "It definitely gives us that sense of confidence. Also we kind of want to make sure that we’re not complacent and we don’t peak at this time, because we’re not even halfway through the season.

"So we have a lot of work to do and a long way to go if we want to compete for the Bay State (Conference) title, the South title and, hopefully, the state title."

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